Atrocity Realm
The Atrocity Realm is one of the thirteen major near Umbral Realms in The Umbra. History is filled with countless moments in time, moments that are wonderful, beautiful, even magical. However, it also filled with many terrible moments. Things that people would rather forget, bury away in some vault, locked deep within the earth for no one else to find. Atrocity Realm is the vault filled with things people would rather forget. It is said that ones deeds live on long after their deaths. And no other place in the dark corners of the Umbra is reflected those deeds of past horrors better here. Like a broken record they are played over and over here. Some say this realm reflects the worst taint that the Wyrm has to offer. Perhaps. But perhaps it is the worst that Humanity and the Garou themselves have to offer. The Wyrm just took notice. =Good Intentions= Just cause the devil took notice of your dance, doesn't mean that the Wyrm doesn't make things worse. Here Banes breed and fester on the spiritual residue of acts such as the Impergium, the War of Rage, and even the War of Tears. But not only do the secret wars of the Garou reside here. However because shapeshifters are half spirit in of themselves, their influence is more predominate in the realm. But there plenty of things done by child abusers, serial killers, dictators and even "ordinary" mortals pushed over the edge. Horrific scenes playing in constant repeat providing a steady stream of fodder to keep this putrid realm alive. And putrid is putting the realm lightly. The terrain is a seething cesspool of browns and slimy grays, mud pits, piles of rotting skin, along side piles of skulls and bones. Carcasses of mutilated victims seem to be trying to climb their way out of the ooze, but are forever locked in rictuses of tortures. Hand dug mass graves are the final place for endless numbers of corpses. Along with the stench of rot, burning flesh, sulfur and fecal matter, there is a constant morbid black ash that falls from the choked gray skies. Moans, shrieks, screams and a wet sticky, crunching sound comes with every step. Swarms of biting flies maggots and eggs soon fill the very foot steps of any suffering traveler. And the the geography is just as bad. Mudslides, flesh-hills, ravines and other features create a never ending morbid maze. Some liken the realm to a very sick haunted house. Only scenes played here are neither meant for delight or entertainment, and they are very vivid. In many ways this realm resembles The Battleground, however this is a place of victimization, not struggle. Shapeshifters are welcome to try and stop this frenzy inducing carnage and sick depravity. However they will be meet with a rather sick joke. They Can't. Bane larvae can be killed or driven off the images that they feed off off, true enough, mainly because they are too weak to fight back in the first place. However, the emanations of the victims and victimizers are simply images and are not truly real. Yes, they can try and destroy any imagery they find. But it only reforms somewhere else within the realm. Starting to replay like bad elevator music all over again. Atrocity's sick humor doesn't end just yet. No, the realm itself seems to probe ones own mind, searching for new forms of suffering. It isn't uncommon for a Garou to re-witness acts of their prior life. Including first changes, murders, their own child abuse, and what ever other skeletons are lurking in the corners of their minds. Some Garou argue this can be used as "confrontation therapy." However most who are forced to relive these moments, end up going truly mad, even to the point of turning to the Wyrm. =Home Sweet Home= Despite it always being a rather strong place, as the world grew, so did with it the near realms. Atrocity was obviously no exception. However in the 20th and 21th centuries the realm has grown exponentially. Perhaps this is due to Amthelios appearing in the umbral sky, or as maybe it is due to the number and scale of atrocities that have happened within this time frame. What ever the cause, a place were minor banes were once an annoyance in an already terrible place, are now rising to a level that is a decided danger. Even a Maeljin Incarna has moved in, building a morbid "fortress" of corpses amid the widest of the pits. Here from the citadel of suffering and violated bodies, the Incarna orchestrates the banes into crude mobs, in hopes of harvesting the energies of the realm. Whatever the reason, Atrocity is growing. And it doesn't look like it is going to stop anytime soon. =The Wall and the Wire= Somewhere in the realm there rises out of the foulness and the rot, a wall. Made of simple black rock, it is like the Vietnam War memorial in Washington D.C. Strangely, the realm's Banes due to stay away from the Wall. Lists of names are craved into the wall, ranging from Egyptian hieroglyphics, to that of the modern fonts. Theurges speculate that these names are all who have been victimized or abused in the course of human history. Due to the infrequent number of banes that dare come near the Wall, it has been in the past a slight safe haven to the realm. This has changed as of late. Tendrils of barbed wire now grow up and around this wall, choking it about like metal vines. This Wire is actually an ectoplasmic projection. delineating the boundaries of the Dark Kingdom of Wire. This kingdom , like the The Lost Legion who line the Abyss's mouth, are wraiths blasted out of the Underworld during the Fifth Maelstrom. However these wraiths are from the Holocaust. Their kinship with Atrocity brought them to this forsaken realm, and now they cautiously explore and fortify their new home, whiles at the same time seeking out any fellow survivors among the realm's emanations. They have found ephemeral reflections of the death camps were they met their terrible demise. But equipped with little understanding between ectoplasm and ephemera, they simply do not understand why when they try to interact with the realm's denizens, they are unsuccessful. This sober group is indifferent to any frivolous traveling werecreatures. In fact they are seen almost as just another little weird bane, whose only purpose is to torture and molest sense the time they got to this place. Hence it is wise to tread very carefully around those ghosts from the Wire Realm. Breeding Pits. Atrocity is realm were one's senses are super saturated in all its horrors. And while the stench, the sounds, the sighs and the overall realm is a terrible thing to behold, one must keep an eye out for the many pits were the baby banes call nurseries. Like little maggots they feed on the bodies and gobbets of flesh. And whiles they come in many loathsome forms, they often appear as mobile fetuses or maggots with human faces. Scrags and other large Banes tend the pits like doting parents, watching as larger banes cannibalize the weaker siblings and crawl out of the pits. At this stage, they go find a nice place to hover and feed on the psychic negative energies of a scene of victimization. (*sniff* they grow up so fast!) Unlike the emanations in the rest of the realm, all these banes are very real. And what they lack in power, they can make up for in sheer numbers. Killing these floating balls of suffering is advised at your own risk. Due to the fact that if the banes manage to kill you, you don't die. Instead, you are mystically reborn in one of the Bane Pits. There to be tortured at the hands of various banes, until you either free yourself (good luck with that) or (most likely) go insane. =I came, I saw, Get Me Out of This Place. Now!= Entering realms like this is almost stupidly simple. Worst of all it can be instinctive and unwitting. Realms call to those who have their energies in them already. And shapechangers who are gifted with things like rage, violence, or thoughts of death and killing things are prime targets for places like this. And were there is a stupidly easy entrance, the exit is inversely difficult to find. With Atrocity, there is quite simply, no conventional means of escape. Moon bridges nor gifts allow travelers to leave. In fact the only means of escape it to take on the role of a victim, and be "slain" by one of the realm's emanations. You must feel everything the victim has felt, suffer as they did, not lifting a claw, a fang, or even a hand back to defend. Upon "death" you are mystically transported to another realm; perhaps the material world, or another Near Realm such as Pangaea, or if you are truly worthy, the Summer Country. =The Laws of the Realm= * Emanations of the realm are ephemeral spirits can may not inflict or receive true physical harm. If "killed" by one of these emanations, Garou are ejected from the Realm. Garou can/will/may harm, (and in turn be harmed by) other material visitors, Banes and similar creatures. * After each atrocity witnessed, all shapeshifters lose a temporary Gnosis. After all Gnosis is drained, they start losing temporary Rage. Once all Rage is drained, Atrocity starts draining your temporary willpower. Once All these things are gone, you will be automatically and summarily "slain" then ejected by the emanations of the realm. * Atrocity tends to personalize all events witnessed, A Garou who frenzied and killed innocents would surely see this played out in front of them. Along with any other darker things in their past. * Finding any particular scene can be found here. The more it relates to the one who wishes to find it the easier it is. * The only way to leave is to "die". Moon bridges, fetishes and Gifts do bubkiss. * With one's senses being bombarded with horror, any attempts at perception are twice as hard. * Sense Wyrm can be used to find particular banes in the realm. * If a shapeshifter confronts a scene in which he or she is committing the atrocities, reaching into one's willpower and putting aside his or her rage to make peace with emanations, might cause the scene to vanish. This should be and can only be tried once, as the nature of Atrocity eats at one's willpower. The Rite of Contrition likewise can offer offenders a chance to atone to their victims. Category:Reference Category:Umbral Realm